Maha Shiva Ratri, March 2011

~~OM~~

The Worship of Lord Shiva

Early in the morning of Shivaratri, we saw our beloved Swamiji sitting in asan by the sacred fire and chanting many, many scriptures – the Chandi, Rudri, Shiva Sahasranama. For 24 hours, the fire was blazing with the offering of various mantras, especially “Om Namah Shivaya.” The temple was decorated and Maa adorned Lord Shiva with new cloth, flowers and decorations. Everybody was busy preparing for the evening – making prasad, arranging flowers, setting up puja. In the bustle of activity was the sweet feeling of love, fellowship, devotion and anticipation.

At 5 in the evening, Maa and Swamiji arrived at the Temple and we all sang “Jai Shiva Omkara”, arati to Lord Shiva. We began the worship by doing a group Shiva puja led by Maa and Swamiji. Then devotees went up to the Shiva lingam, one by one, as Swamiji guided them with mantras to offer milk, chandan (sandalwood), ganga jal (Ganges water) and flowers to Lord Shiva. Swamiji says we should build a personal relationship with God and through this guided puja, He taught us how to do it!!! It was thrilling, exciting and enlightening at the same time.

Everybody offered milk to the Shiva Lingams in the temple and then walked up to Napeshwar to make offerings. As we walked to Napeshwar, we burnt frankincense and rang bells and blew conches and sang together “Om Namah Shivaya.” It felt like we were in the Himalayas going to see Lord Shiva in Kailash!

There were four pujas conducted through out the night. In the first puja we offered milk, followed by yogurt in the second puja, and ghee and honey in the last two pujas. In addition to this, various prasad items such as kitchuri, vegetables, moong daal, sweet pudding etc were offered following scriptural guidelines.

As devotees were doing puja, Maa sang to Lord Shiva. Her voice resounded within the temple and across the world via the web cam. In fact, viewers from 106 countries watched the festival. As Maa sang “Shiva Shiva Shiva Shambo”, devotees danced around the room. We prayed we could be ambassadors of peace and love and carry these magical moments in our hearts and into our lives.

As the evening slipped into night, Swamiji led us in a powerful group chanting of the Rudri. From time to time, Swamiji welcomed our online viewers from different parts of the world. He said, “Welcome to viewers from Czechoslovakia.” A little later He said, “Welcome to our family in India, where it is morning now. Thanks for joining us!” It felt like we are all one family, praying together and lighting the lamp of purity in every heart in temples all over the world.

After the four pujas were over, Swamiji blessed us with Holy Ash and Maa fed everybody with “Paaran”, a drink made of milk, cashews, raisins and powdered rice, traditionally taken to break the Shivaratri fast.